Letting Go
by Creuxx
Summary: A story of friendship and struggles. Bear with me. This is my first attempt at writing, so go easy on me! Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! Please review!


This is my first attempt at writing, so go easy on me :) Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! Please leave me a review!

All characters belong to Stephenie Meyer!

All chapters in BPOV

Chapter One : Separation

Life wasn't easy for me growing up. My parents separated when I was seven, and my mom moved me around from one apartment to another, one guy to the next. My relationship with my dad wasn't much different. He bounced from floozy to floozy until he finally settled on a maniacal catholic who would shout about what an abomination I was. Needless to say our relationship went downhill fast, and he put himself out of my life. When I was thirteen I told my dad I hated him and that I wished he would die. I never figured he actually would two months later. That was the last thing I ever said to him. To say I had an unstable upbringing is a massive understatement.

I built a brick wall around myself and created an alter ego to deal with the pain. I became the bad girl who got into fights and stole things, I was always in trouble at school. My mom was too busy with her own life to bother with mine, so I wasn't surprised by the lack of resistance when I dropped out. I worked full time and took care of myself while my mom ran around with whatever guy she was with at the moment, never bothering to come home much. A few months before my seventeenth birthday, after a nasty breakup with her boyfriend of the month, she decided on a whim that we were moving to Maine. We would get a house on the water, open a little cafe, live happily ever after. Yeah, right.

I fought against it tooth and nail, but considering it was go or be homeless, I got dragged along. She rented a weathered old sea captain's house that sat right on the ocean. It was a beautiful sight with its salt licked wooden panels and wrap around porch. I couldn't let on that I liked it though, I made it a point to show how miserable I was. I spent my time shut up in my bedroom reading on the windowsill, or sitting on the cliff by the pier, anywhere that wasn't near her. She tried to get me to go back to high school and graduate, but I wanted nothing to do with some podunk hick school in a tiny wooded ocean town. It didn't take long before my mom got sick of my moping and we were butting heads, so I told her I was going to leave. I had just turned seventeen and I had no car, little money, and no respectable education, so my options for leaving were limited. But I was definitely going.

What could I do to escape this? What could I do to escape myself? I considered thumbing it across the country, but that was a bit cliche for me. In the end I decided to do what every good high school drop out trouble making delinquent does. Free government trade school. My mom tried to talk me out of it, but the idea of freedom with her new trucker boyfriend won out over dealing with me. She was a bad actress when she dropped me off, half crying and hugging me goodbye. I waved her off and told her we would both be happier with miles between us. We were better off as casual acquaintances, we both knew it. I gave her one last smile and turned away.

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When I walked into my dorm room with my two suitcases and a lifetime of baggage I wasn't too sure what to expect. As tough as I was, or at least considered myself to be, I still wasn't too keen on getting shanked in my sleep by some random chick court ordered to be there. Luckily for me, the girl I would be sharing my room with looked about twelve years old, and I actually let out a surprised laugh at the sight of her. I was pretty sure I could fend her off if need be.

As soon as she saw me, the look on her face instantly threw my thoughts of having to defend myself out the window. It was like looking at a god damn four year old on Christmas morning.

"Hey! You must be Isabella! I've been waiting for you all day, welcome to our humble abode!" she said, twirling around while she ushered me in. The room we shared was a large rectangular space, with beds against the walls. We each had our own nightstand and dresser, as well as large private closets and desks across from the beds. There was a huge mirror and vanity with a sink at the far end of the room that acted as an entryway to the bathroom. Overall it was a nice looking room, a bit institutional, but nice.

"You can call me Bella, and thanks" I said, as disinterested as humanly possible.

"I'm Alice! I've been here about six months now, so anything you need just let me know. I can show you around campus and introduce you to people and take you to your classes and seriously anything you need just tell me and I'll make it happen!"

Alice was quite possibly the most animated person I had ever seen, and I wondered how someone so tiny could have so much space in their lungs to talk that much at once. I considered suggesting Ritilan, but figured if I had to live with her I might as well be nice. No sense in making things more miserable than they already were.

As I unpacked my things and made my bed up, Alice talked excitedly about the best places to hang out, make out spots on campus, the best stores in the mall. After a while her enthusiasm became a buzzing in my ears. I had to interrupt her for my own sanity as I pictured snuffing her with my freshly fluffed pillow.

"Breathe Alice, I'm going to be here a while you know" I said sarcastically.

"Oh, sorry! I must seem like such a spaz!"

_Yes Alice, you do._

"No way, don't even think that. It's actually nice to know you're happy to see me"

"I really am! You and I are going to be best friends, just you wait" she said, smiling like I had just told her she won the lottery.

In an attempt to ward off another rant about the mall and how cool it is, I suggested we go for a tour of the campus. I needed some breathing space, might as well make it useful.

"Great idea! I'll even point out the single guys, free of charge"

"Eh, I'm not really into guys Alice" I said, wrinkling my nose up.

"Oh, well I know the single girls too!"

"Alice! I meant I'm not interested in dating, not that I'm not attracted to guys you dink!"

"Well whatever Bella, I'll just call it even and point out everyone" she said with a wink as she grabbed her coat and pranced out the door.

We walked out of the dorm building to the large courtyard in the center of campus. The diversity of the kids was overwhelming.

"Alice, do you seriously know all of these people?" I asked, completely awed that someone could possibly recollect information about this many different people.

"I know everyone on different levels, I separate them into groups. I have the Dorks, Goths, Sluts, Assholes, Frienemies, Jocks and the Silent types. Lets start with the Dorks and get them out of the way"

"I'm interested to see the Silent types, they sound the most interesting."

"It has nothing to do with interesting Bella, it's all about who is _worth_ knowing. Stick with me and you'll be good to go, trust me."

Alice was obviously in her prime, so I listened intently as she pointed out a group of guys she referred to as the Dorks. They were your stereotypical vision of what would be called such. According to Alice they were 'back burner', which I could only assume meant they were useful to her when she needed them but were otherwise ignored. I was starting to get the impression that Alice wasn't as innocent as she looked, and the more she talked the more I agreed that we were going to get along just fine...

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**It's a bit of a rough start, but trust me this is going somewhere! There is this neat little button that says review right down there, click it and make me happy :D**


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